Cannabis and Marijuana
The derivatives of the Cannabis plant have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years now. In the year 2018, more than 11.8 million adults reported its use in the previous year. According to a 2019 survey by Monitoring the Future, a significant increase was seen in the daily use of marijuana in the younger grades. Also, it was noted that teens’ perceptions of the risks of marijuana use have gradually declined over the past decade.
Gallup, a Washington based analytics and advisory company, found that support for national legalization hit an all-time high in 2018-19 at 66%. In the current electoral race, we have already witnessed a lot of discussions on marijuana and its respective laws. The legalization of marijuana has become a mainstream issue having support from most of the presidential candidates. However, three of the candidates viz. Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, and Donald Trump have opinions contrary to this.
Unequivocally, the use of cannabis involves both short-term and long-term threats. Its short-term use may lead to problems with learning, judgment, attention, memory, and coordination. On the other hand, long-term use may lead to addiction, an increased risk of psychiatric illness, and complexities in pregnancy. Nonetheless, eleven states and the District of Columbia now have full legalization. Also, 23 other states have comprehensive medical marijuana programs. Talking about the highest strata, the federal government has usually chosen to not dig deeper into prohibiting marijuana federally in states that have legalized medicinal or recreational markets. Under the governance by Obama, the Justice Department directed US attorneys not to prevent the use of marijuana extensively in states with legal markets. The Trump administration revoked the policy in 2018, but there has been a minute practical change in the federal government’s stance.
Democratic candidates have been in support of legalizing marijuana like never before. The idea of legalizing it comes with the argument that criminal penalties for marijuana possession have caused more harm than would have caused by treating it like any other alcohol. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren stand in favor of calling for past convictions for marijuana possession to be removed and to overtake federal criminal justice policies. Both of them are sponsors of the legislation of the Marijuana Justice Act and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. These would reshape federal drug policies drastically. Sanders also supports the reformation of the federal mercy application process by creating a board independent of the Justice Department. Going further, he proposed the idea of creating a $10 billion grant program through the USDA to help people start their marijuana farms.
Slightly contrary to the approach of Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar supports the federal marijuana legalization but is not vocal about legislative proposals to reshape federal criminal justice policies. She instead is a co-sponsor of the legislation of The STATES Act. This talks about allowing states to set their marijuana policies without federal punishment’s fear. Another candidate and billionaire activist Tom Steyer has proposed a national referendum to let voters decide on the issue.
Michael Bloomberg, from calling the legalization of marijuana as “perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done,” has now gradually turned to allow states that have legalized cannabis to continue without federal interference. He wants to eliminate criminal penalties for its possession and proposes to spend $22.5 billion over ten years to bring down the prison population to half.
Joe Biden supports allowing states to continue with their policies in this regard without federal punishment and eliminating criminal penalties for the same. However, his stance remains the same as that of Bloomberg and Trump, who do not support the federal legalization of marijuana.